Click image to enlarge:
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Notes on this collage:
- The images and text on this collage are from an old Christmas book called Baby’s First Christmas, a short picture book published in 1983. I took the story text (about 100 words) and re-arranged it into a sort of dada holiday poem.
- The background image is a golden-orange twilight view of Portland with Mount Hood in the background. That was taken from the June 1953 issue of a magazine called Holiday.
- I like how the sleepy boy’s head, if you squint, looks like the sun going down, or blond lava bursting out.
- Talking to an old friend about my collaging this past weekend, I was surprised when they seemed disturbed by my cutting up of old books and magazines. “You’re destroying these publications and changing their intentions,” he said. I admitted that I initially felt strange about it too, but now I don’t think twice. I told him, “I like creating new contexts or conflicts through the sampling of images and text.”
- Canada’s Kasini House has released the newest pack of their trading card series. Check it out. They’re fantastic. Makes me want to buy a bunch of little frames and start a whole wall of tiny collages.
- Recently I was turned on to the ambitious collage art (and videos!) of one Constantinos Chaidalis. He’s a graphic and motion designer in Athens, Greece who makes an array of visual art. What grabbed my attention most are his stunning digital collage films. He uses After Affects and Cinema 4D to produce eerie eye candy such as “Senior” and “Sophomore.” Seeing the black and white image of a woman’s face open slowly like a door to reveal a hundred wing-shaped feathers floating out or watching as images of James Dean’s iconic face reveal their pink squiggly inner-workings feels strangely more meditative and beautiful than you’d imagine. “It takes a week or so to make them, without trying to make them fast,” he says, when asked how much time he takes for each. “The preproduction is actually a whole lot more time than the actual animation.” Chaidalis’s work is set to show at experimental film festivals in the US and Europe. “I want to evolve this technique even further and try doing some different things,” he says of his video work. “I think I might incorporate some 3D elements in there too.” Chaidalis also creates handmade collages that blend images that feel sweetly innocent and warmly colorful. This interview at EyeCandies is another good place to find out more about him.
- Have a great rest of the year and see you in January!
